


Athena's Pain

by KazeshiniSora



Series: All Of My Memories (Would Be Too Much For You) [1]
Category: Athena Complex (Webcomic)
Genre: Adrian's just a plot device so I can write angst anyway, And yet still not finding out she's a girl, Athena is a queen, But whatever, He's kinda dense, Hurt I guess?, I just realised that i spelled just as jus but whatever i guess, I noticed a lack of Athena Complex fanfics, Pretty much jus Adrian learning more about Athena, There isn't really any comfort, This is where this fic and the rest of the series is coming from, it gives this fic personality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 15:46:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30091404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazeshiniSora/pseuds/KazeshiniSora
Summary: Adrian learns a little more about Athena and why (s)he's in Korea.
Relationships: Apollo & Artemis, Apollo & Athena, Athena & Artemis
Series: All Of My Memories (Would Be Too Much For You) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2214132
Comments: 3
Kudos: 1





	Athena's Pain

Adrian walked to the nurse’s office, soaking wet, dripping water all over the tiled floors of the high school, and sneezing like no tomorrow. It figures, with his luck, that he’d catch a cold right at the start of the monsoon season. Summer colds were by far the worst and Sibyl had even warned him to properly dry off just the day before but no, whatever god had cursed him really wanted him to suffer, didn’t they? 

Just before he could open the door to request for medicine, he heard voices.

“Artemis, you really hurt Athena,” Apollo, the school nurse and one of Athena’s many, _many_ , siblings said.

“She’s being hurt even more by being there with _that boy_.” Another voice, a female, replied, venom clear in her voice when referring to whoever was hurting Athena by their mere presence. Vaguely, he wondered who that person was and why Athena would continue to stay with him if it only hurt him.

Another thought came to Adrian then, was this Artemis person was also somehow related to Athena? Maybe another sibling? Athena had said he lost count due to the unnaturally large number he had.

Apollo sighed, breaking Adrian’s train of thought, obviously tired of this conversation, before he continued speaking.

“She’s already been betrayed by people she cares about more times than I care to think about, Artemis. She doesn’t need you to join that list.” Apollo paused for a moment, letting that absorb into his twin’s brain. “And even if we don’t agree with what she’s doing, Athena knows herself well enough to know when enough is enough. She told the titan she’s always with and Iolo that if it doesn’t work this time, she’s done. She’ll go back to Olympus and never say a word about Poseidon again. Athena’s grown up a little more now, we don’t need to baby her all the time anymore Artemis. And I know you know this too. She’s not a little kid who just needs someone on her side anymore.”

Though Adrian was confused about a lot of what the school nurse had said, he did understand one thing. Athena had come to Korea for a reason. Adrian absentmindedly wondered what that reason could be but quickly forgot about it as he noted that Apollo had continuously referred to Athena as ‘she’ and ‘her’. Wasn’t Athena a boy? 

Before he could think about it any further, Apollo continued on.

“Besides, her year is almost up anyway. If she doesn’t want Zeus finding up what she’s been up to, she’ll have to go back.” 

“Herme-” The girl started to say something before she was cut off. 

“Artemis, let’s just let Athena enjoy the little time she has left here in peace, okay?”

After a few moments of silence, the huntress spoke. “I just don’t want her to get hurt again. Especially not over Poseidon. I don’t want to see her cry again Apollo, and if I have to get rid of that boy to make sure of that, then I will.”

“Artemi-” Apollo cut himself off as his sister cut off their water link and sighed. “It’s not like I want to see her hurt either.” He said softly.

Adrian stepped away from the nurse’s office door, mind reeling. Athena was going to be leaving soon? His year was almost up? What did that even mean? Adrian wasn’t sure and he knew he didn’t want to find out. 

“Adrian Lee,” Because his luck was just that horrible, Apollo opened the door and called out to Adrian, staring at the puddle in front of the door.

“Did you need something or were you just listening in on my conversation for fun?” Apollo asked in a fairly bored tone, staring at the sopping wet teenager in front of him.

Adrian blushed, embarrassed to have been caught dropping eaves.

“I- I just wanted to get some cold medicine.” As if to prove the point, he started to sneeze again. “ I’m- I’m sorry for listening to your private conversation.” Adrian closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see what was most definitely going to be anger on his friend’s older brother’s face.

Apollo just sighed, causing him to open one eye cautiously, and moved away from the door, giving Adrian room to slip into the nurse’s office.

“Sit down while I get you your medicine,” Apollo said once he’d crossed the threshold into the room. He then turned his back to Adrian, looking for the right pills in the medicine cabinet, not waiting to see if the boy had listened to his words. He had, Apollo was too scary to not and he had no reason not to listen to the older man.

After Apollo had handed the medicine and some water over to his uncle's reincarnation, he sat down in his chair, directly across from Adrian.

“So,” he started, picking up the coffee cup from his desk. “How much did you hear?”

Adrian, not having expected the question, almost choked. Considering his luck, if water hadn’t favoured him, he probably would have.

“W-what?”

When Apollo didn’t say a word, continuing to sip his coffee and stare at the once Greek god, Adrian spoke again.

“I, um, I heard you talk to someone about Athena. But, uh, you kept referring to him as a girl?”

“I used the wrong gender?” Apollo questioned from behind his coffee mug and Adrian was acutely reminded that he and Athena weren’t from Korea. Adrian supposed it made sense that, faced with a language completely different from the one they’d grown up with, they would make a few mistakes here and there. The fact that they were as fluent and coherent as they were was a surprise in and of itself. You’d have thought that they had grown up in Korea.

“Ah, no, it’s okay. People make mistakes,” Adrian tried to console the made though he was aware that Apollo didn’t need his reassurances.

“What else did you hear?” Apollo asked, trying to get the conversation to move along. It was still class time for Adrian and, though he didn’t care much, he knew his half-sister would come looking for her revenge target soon. Apollo would rather avoid that, knowing Adrian would start asking her questions too, wanting answers for things too personal and too painful for Athena to share.

Um, you guys were talking about how Artemis?” Adrian paused to look over at the blonde man to see if he’d gotten the woman’s name right. When Apollo didn’t correct him, he took that as his cue to continue. “About how she hurt Athena. And that he’s going to have to leave soon because his year is almost up? Oh, and how someone named Poseidon had hurt him before.” Adrian blurted out as much as he could and tried to think about if he’d missed any details, eventually deciding that nothing else came to mind.

The blonde sighed before placing his mug down. “Don’t mention Poseidon to Athena,” Apollo advised. “Poseidon- he hurt Athena a lot worse than you could imagine. So much so that, even after all these years, he still hasn’t forgotten about the scars left in his heart by him.”

“Can I ask what that person did to him?” Maybe Adrian was crossing the line, delving too much into Athena’s life, but he just wanted to know a little more about his friend.

Apollo thought for a moment, wondering just how much he should say about his uncle and sister’s relationship.

“Athena was abandoned by our father when he was born.” Adrian’s eyes went wide, not having expected to hear something like that about his friend. Apollo ignored his shock. 

“He was different from the rest of us. His mother died right after he was born and, because our father abandoned him, no one else wanted him either. Poseidon, one of our uncles, was close to Athena’s mother so he took him in, raised him. He became more of a father to Athena than our real father ever was. He was Athena’s world. A long time ago though, for a reason that probably will only ever make sense to Poseidon, he betrayed our family and left after telling Athena that the only reason he took him in was to make Athena a pawn in his game.”

It was odd to Adrian, hearing how someone as amazing and kind as Athena had been hurt so badly and still managed to be warm and kind to others, even someone like himself, the human catastrophe.

He couldn’t even imagine how Athena must have felt, being told by the most important person in his world that he meant nothing to him. Adrian never _wanted_ to know. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle that kind of pain.

Apollo pinched the bridge of his nose, remembering how depressed and lifeless the goddess of wisdom and war had become after Poseidon’s trial. For weeks, she’d just lay in bed, not moving for anything, just crying her heart and soul out for a man she’d considered her everything; her father, her friend, her teacher, her crush. Apollo never wanted Athena to go through that again but he also wanted her to be able to move past the god of the sea. He wanted her to be _happy_. That was the only reason he’d agreed to her reckless revenge plan. 

For all that Zeus would punish her if he’d ever heard of this, it wouldn’t hurt her nearly as much as the open, festering wound in her heart. As the god of medicine and as someone who’d helped to raise her, he knew that the pain she was in now was much worse than whatever Zeus could think of. He’d already done his worst when he abandoned the small child and left her at the gates of Tartarus with nothing and no one for company.

“I didn’t know that he had that kind of past.” Poseidon’s reincarnation said, looking glum and upset. A moment later, his expression shifted to one of confusion. “What did you mean when you said that Athena’s year here is almost up and that he’ll have to go back?”

“Oh, that,” Apollo picked up his coffee mug, feeling the warm ceramic against his palm and fingers. “Athena talked with our father, convinced him to let Athena stay here for a year. None of our family, including our father, knows he’s here. It’s just… a year of peace and quiet for him. A vacation. The only rule our father set was that, after a year, Athena has to come home or, at the very least, let our father know that he’s here. And his year is almost up.”

Athena was going to leave soon. Adrian hadn’t known the boy for long but they had grown close. Close enough that Adrian didn’t know what he would do once his new friend left to go back to his home. It was upsetting, in all honesty. His mind was racing, a million thoughts and questions rapid-firing in his brain, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the answers to the questions swirling around.

Apollo had no reason to hide any of this from the young boy. In fact, maybe this knowledge would make him stay away from the goddess. For all that she was the goddess of wisdom and war, when it came to matters regarding those close to her, she didn’t think and was hurt far too easily. Especially when it concerned Poseidon. From what he’d heard, Athena had cried multiple times since she’d come to this place, since she’d met this _human_. 

Apollo hated how much Poseidon still hurt Athena, how much his _twin_ hurt for Athena. How he couldn’t heal the kind of pain the two of them were in. Apollo hated it so much he didn’t know what to do with himself most days.

Before Adrian could ask Apollo any more questions, the door to the nurse’s office slammed open and Athena walked in.

“There you are! You’ve been gone for half an hour. I was worried something had happened.” The white-haired greek said to Adrian, completely ignoring the other person in the room.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Apollo stated pointedly, a disappointed look on his, admittedly handsome, face.

“What’s that look for?” Athena questioned irritatedly, knowing Apollo was going to lecture her.

“Don’t skip class if you don’t want me to look at you like this. As your older brother, it’s my responsibility to make sure you stay in school.”

Adrian blocked out the rest of Athena and Apollo’s conversation to instead think about the things Apollo had told him about his friend. He knew Athena had said his family was complicated but this was a whole different level. He had to wonder, what else had Athena gone through in his life?

Adrian had always assumed that Athena was just saying he had been cursed by a god as well, he didn’t know that Athena had suffered so much.

He wanted to know more about Athena.


End file.
